Panthers tap into connections with coaches

On the surface, you'd look at the Panthers coaching moves Monday and think there were ulterior motives at work.

Particularly in hiring WRs coach Fred Graves (who coached a certain undersized receiver you might know when he was at Utah), it's easy to suspect a plot.

Graves recruited Steve Smith to Utah, but there's no guarantee he can get him to sign a letter of intent to stay here.

"We are very pleased to have Fred and Pete join our staff," coach Ron Rivera said in the team's release, which also announced TEs coach Pete Hoener's hiring. "They bring an extensive coaching background and have developed a number of young receivers in the NFL.

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"They are both highly regarded and will make a strong contribution to our offense."

Notice what Rivera didn't say? Notice whose name wasn't in the press release at all?

The Panthers know that all matters Smith are a little dicey at the moment. So even if hiring Graves was done with him in mind, they're smart enough not to say it out loud.

To be fair, Smith hasn't said he wants out. He hasn't said he wants to stay. He hasn't said much of anything, really.

But if the Panthers hired Graves thinking he was the path to locking up Smith, they could be inviting some unintended consequences.

The absolute quickest way to lose Smith is to let him suspect you're trying to handle him.

I've been around the guy at work every day for nine years now, and I've seen it happen to reporters, to teammates and to coaches. It may not be right, and it may not be fair, but it is at least consistent.

For that, I'll give Smith credit. He's the same to everyone. He's suspicious by nature, and when people approach him, he's generally sized them and their intentions up long before they arrive.

Graves knows Smith well enough to know he can't really make him do anything he doesn't want, but he has to try. Like many of the authority figures Smith respects, Graves has stood up to Smith. At Utah, he got tired of Smith "mouthing off," and kicked him out of practice during a punt return drill.

"He stood in the end zone with his helmet on crying he was so upset," Graves said during a 2005 interview. "Steve Smith loves football, and when it was taken away from him, it bothered him. After that, I knew he realized what was happening. Steve's smart, and he understands.

"I kind of always end up with guys who have chips on their shoulders. At Utah, that was a big part of it with him. If you're meek and mild, nobody's going to notice you. If you’ve got that chip, you want to make plays."

Smith still has that chip, but he has changed the way he expresses it.

But knowing his background, Graves has some idea about what to expect.

"I don't know if mellow is the word I'd use," Graves said Monday night when asked how to he'd describe his recent conversations with Smith. "He's still a competitor. He's always been a fiery guy, but he thinks more now about the consequences. It wasn't always that way coming up.

"But at the same time, I don't want to take that away from him."

Stay tuned.

-- We'll get more into their other hires (Hoener and defensive line coach Eric Washington) later. Graves and Smith are the news of the day.

But a few quick things on each of them.

Within minutes of their hires, my phone buzzed with unsolicited testimonials for their work. Both seem to fit into the teacher mold Rivera is pushing, though they're different.

Hoener is an old-school football coach, a guy who helped develop Vernon Davis in San Francisco.

Washington's 41, and has three years NFL experience. But former Panthers Julius Peppers is said to have vouched for his work, and that says something (speaking of cats who don't trust many people).

The Panthers are clearly looking for help at tight end, whether that's coaxing something new out of existing players or bringing in new ones.

And they're definitely bringing in new ones on the defensive line, in some fashion. File this away for later, but New York Giants DT Barry Cofield could be a free agent with a new CBA. His college position coach at Northwestern? Eric Washington.